"Awful quiet, ain't it?" she ventured, after a pause. "Guess that's what
woke me up."

Douglas laughed good-naturedly at the thought of quiet as a disturber,
and added that he feared it might at first be rather dull for her, but
that Jim and Toby would send her news of the circus, and that she could
write to them as soon as she was better.

"I'll have to be a heap better 'an I ever was 'fore I can write much,"
Polly drawled, with a whimsical little smile.

"I will write for you," the pastor volunteered, understanding her
plight.

"You will?" For the first time he saw a show of real pleasure in her
eyes.

"Every day," Douglas promised solemnly.

"And you will show me how?"

"Indeed I will."

"How long am I in for?" she asked.

"The doctor can tell better about that when he comes."

"The doctor! So--it's as bad as that, eh?"

"Oh, that need not frighten you," Douglas answered consolingly.

"I ain't frightened," she bridled quickly; "I ain't never scared of
nothin.' It's only 'cause they need me in the show that I'm a-kickin'."

"Oh, they will get along all right," he said reassuringly.

"Get along?" Polly flashed with sudden resentment. "Get along WITHOUT
MY ACT!" It was apparent from her look of astonishment that Douglas had
completely lost whatever ground he had heretofore gained in her respect.
"Say, have you seen that show?" She waited for his answer with pity and
contempt.

"No," admitted John, weakly.

"Well I should say you ain't, or you wouldn't make no crack like
that. I'm the whole thing in that push," she said with an air of
self-complacency; "and with me down and out, that show will be on the
bum for fair."

"I beg your pardon," was all Douglas could say, confused by the sudden
volley of unfamiliar words.

"You're kiddin' me," she said, turning her head to one side as was her
wont when assailed by suspicion; "you MUST a seen me ride?"

"No, Miss Polly, I have never seen a circus," Douglas told her
half-regretfully, a sense of his deep privation stealing upon him.

"What!" cried Polly, incredulously.

"Lordy no, chile; he ain't nebber seed none ob dem tings," Mandy
interrupted, as she tried to arrange a few short-stemmed posies in a
variegated bouquet.

"Well, what do you think of that!" Polly gasped. "You're the first rube
I ever saw that hadn't." She was looking at him as though he were a
curiosity.

"So I'm a rube!" Douglas shook his head with a sad, little smile and
good-natu